Monday, February 18, 2013

Photoshop has a multitude of tools for adjusting your grayscale images and

fine tuning the colors you select for your final artwork. You should explore these

possibilities and enjoy the process. My first sketch of the gnome was scanned

into Photoshop and saved as a grayscale image. I made sure my image was

scanned and saved at 300 dpi or higher.

I turned the grayscale image into a duotone within Photoshop.

This was achieved by going to the menu bar and selecting Image. From the drop-down menu Mode appears. Select Mode and select Duotone.

You should play around with Duotone, Tritone and Quatone. Some

exciting effects can be achieved.

The gnome color version is a bit more challenging because of the number of

colors used in the final version. The coloring process is like orchestrating a group of

musicians and deciding which selections of colors to use. For the final version of coloring I made sure I had a grayscale study prepared. This assists me in determining which areas will be dark or light in value. The grayscale study also assists me in the final selection of colors. Selecting warm or cool colors, dark or light areas applied and a number of other considerations.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Quickly finished these sketches before I start a good size project for McGraw-Hill. I can't say to much about it but as soon as I am allowed to post some samples I will. Meanwhile, let me explain how I created these quick sketches. I was inspired looking at Game of Thrones a television series. I quickly did the sketches while watching one episode. Once I had my sketches I scanned the images into Photoshop placed on a layer and from the Mode menu selected grayscale and selected a duotone color.

Once I have my figures in duotone mode I added the background shading using an assortment of brushes that Photoshop has in the brush menu. I actually have a series of textured brushes saved for whenever I work on my paintings. I actually have two layers one with the sketches and one with the background layer with the textured shading. When I am satisfied with the coloring I will flatten the layers and go into the Image menu and select Vibrance from the Adjustments and brighten the colors. When I am satisfied with the appearance I will spend time looking over the sketch before I feel it is finished. Enjoy!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Think it's cold outside then think what it is like for these characters to be in space. That's right, unless this friendly alien has a body adapted to survive in space he would cease to exist. The panda has his spacesuit on so this is no problem for him or his friend in the flying saucer.

These are just some of my amusing thoughts going through my head when creating an illustration like this one above. There is nothing else to do outside with the temperatures in Boston in the low thirties. I really enjoy creating these wacky worlds especially working with Photoshop. There are so many tools at my disposal and it's so exciting to see the effects achieved. Enjoy!